Maritime Life

This is best suited for anyone who loves to sail, fish or yacht. These locations have yacht and boat clubs that offer a selection of boats for sale as well as slips to rent. A great deal of like-minded expats will be found in these locations — many have been here for decades doing what they love best. Many boaters plan regattas and trips to head to El Nido or Boracay for a few days and you can get invited to attend. The rich US naval history is often talked about and you'll see and hear many things from WW2.

The expat groups have many outings including weekly darts nights to a monthly hike in Subic Bay. In Manila and Cebu the yacht club is a chance to meet and hang out with the Filipino elite — which you can expect to be invited to all kinds of private functions. Communities are formed around boating and friendships often last a lifetime.

The boating community specifically has a quality of relationship that is rare in expat life generally. People who have organized their entire lives around living aboard or keeping a boat in a foreign country have made a level of commitment that self-selects for a certain kind of character. Friendships formed at a yacht club bar after a shared passage have a depth that purely social expat friendships often lack. Many of the people you will meet in Subic Bay's boating community have been there for twenty or thirty years and have no intention of ever leaving.

The regattas and organized passages to El Nido or Boracay represent something genuinely special. Being invited onto a well-found yacht for a multiday passage through some of the most beautiful waters in the world — arriving at a destination under sail — is an experience that community membership makes accessible.

The Manila and Cebu yacht club dimension adds a social layer unique in this entire guide. The Philippine elite use their yacht clubs as genuine social hubs. Being a known face at the Manila Yacht Club or the Cebu Yacht Club puts you in proximity to people of significant influence in a relaxed social context where shared passion for the water is the equalizer.

In Subic Bay you have a large freeport area with many American restaurants that serve up fare like you were in the middle of Texas. The malls in all locations are hyper modern with western amenities. Great for families and singles. Transportation around Subic Bay is geared to westerners. Rentals in Subic Bay are fairly easy to find — many in Barrio Barretto and the freeport zone. Places can be found for ₱20K but sky is the limit. Depending on your choice of boat you can just live aboard and pay slip fees. Power issues are rare.

The Subic Bay Freeport Zone carries an infrastructure legacy unlike anywhere else in the Philippines — wide roads laid out on a proper grid, reliable utilities, organized commercial zones. For someone who wants the Philippines experience without the chaos of Philippine city planning Subic Bay is the closest thing available.